Reading: The Story of the Teacup

 

There was a couple who took a trip to England to shop in a beautiful antique store to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary.

They both liked antiques and pottery, and especially teacups.

Spotting an exceptional cup, they asked "May we see that? We've never seen a cup quite so beautiful."

As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke, " You don't understand. I have not always been a teacup..

There was a time when I was just a lump of red clay. My master took me and rolled me, pounded and patted me over and over and I yelled out, "Don't do that... I don't like it! Let me alone," but he only smiled, and gently said, "Not yet."

Then WHAM!

I was placed on a spinning wheel and suddenly I was made to suit himself and then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat.

I yelled and knocked and pounded at the door. "Help! Get me out of here!"

I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his head from side to side, "Not yet."

When I thought I couldn't bear it another minute, the door opened. He carefully took me out and put me on the shelf and I began to cool. Oh, that felt so good! "Ah, this is much better," I thought...

But, after I cooled he picked me up and he brushed and painted me all over.

The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag.

"Oh, please, stop it, stop, I cried." He only shook his head and said, "Not yet."

Then suddenly he puts me back in to the oven.

Only it was not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I just knew I would suffocate.

I begged.
I pleaded.
I screamed.
I cried.
I was convinced I would never make it.
I was ready to give up.

Just then the door opened and he took me out and again placed me on the shelf, where I cooled and waited and waited, wondering, "What's he going to do to me next?"

An hour later he handed me a mirror and said, "Look at yourself." And I did.

I said, "That's not me !!!

That couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm soo beautiful!"

Quietly he spoke: "I want you to remember. I know it hurt to be rolled and pounded and patted, but had I just left you alone, you'd have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked.

I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have had any color in your life. If I hadn't put you back in that second oven, you wouldn't have survived for long because the hardness would not have held.

Now you are a finished product. Now you are what I had in mind when I first began with you."

The Almighty knows what HE's doing for each of us. HE is the potter, and we are HIS clay.

HE will mold us and make us and expose us to just enough pressures of just the right kinds that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill HIS good, pleasing and perfect plan.

So when life seems hard, and you are being pounded and patted and pushed almost beyond endurance; when your world seems to be spinning out of control; when you feel like you are in a fiery furnace of trials; when life seems to "stink", try this.

Brew a cup of your favorite tea in your prettiest tea cup, sit down and think on this story and then, have a little talk with the Almighty Potter. Let us willingly yield to our Potter's HAND.

Verbs followed only by Gerunds

Reading: Where Do Snakes Get Their Venom?

       Scientists think there are about two thousand four hundred different kinds of snakes now living. Of these, only about 8 percent are poisonous kinds that stun or kill their prey with venom. In many poisonous snakes the venom is not strong enough or plentiful enough to be dangerous to man. 
       All snakes have a large amount of saliva that helps them swallow and digest prey. In the venomous snakes one of the saliva glands pro¬duces a substance that is poisonous to the snakes’ prey. This sub¬stance is the snakes’ venom. 
       Some snakes have venom that is strong enough to kill an ele¬phant. Others have venom so mild that they can kill only small lizards. Probably only two hundred species of venomous snakes can be considered dangerous to man. 
       Among the venomous species of snakes known, the cobras and their relatives make up one family; the vipers, a second. And there are some venomous snakes among a kind known as the colubrids, the largest family of snakes. 
       The cobras and their relatives have fangs at the front of the mouth, one on each side of the upper jaw. The fangs are grooved, but in most cobras the groove is closed over, forming a hollow tube. A muscle surrounds the venom gland. When the snake bites, the muscle presses on the gland. This forces the venom down into the fang and out through the fang tip directly into the prey. 
       There is a spitting cobra that can spray venom from its fangs. The cobra aims at the eyes of a threatening animal, such as an an¬telope or buffalo. The spray reaches about eight feel and causes al¬most instant blindness. 
       In general, cobra venom affects the nervous system of the victim and makes him unable to move. When the venom reaches the nerve centers that control breathing or heartbeat, the victim dies. Vipers have very long fangs. Their venom affects mainly the blood cells and blood vessels of the victims. It may cause great swelling and bleeding. 

Source: Lots More Tell Me Why by Arkady Leokum 

In English and Spanish: Collocations with Words that Can Help Identify a Person.

Source: Cambridge Word Selector.

Palabras o expresiones que pueden ayudar a identificar una persona. 

In Engish and Spanish: Words to Describe Thin People.

Source: Cambridge Word Selector.

Palabras en inglés y en español para describir gente delgada o flaca. 

Reading: What is Lace?

   Lace is an airy and delicate fabric made of fine threads stitched into patterns. Lace is used to add beauty to many of the things we wear and use. It may be made by hand or by machine.
   The first true hand-made lace was probably made in Italy in the middle of the 1500’s. Very soon afterward, laces were being made in France. Today hand-made lace is made chiefly in Italy and Belgium. Machine-made lace is produced in England. France, and the United States.
   Hand-made lace is usually made by one of two methods: needle-point or bobbin. Needlepoint lace is made by drawing the design on a thick piece of paper backed by linen. The outline of the pattern is stitched onto the paper. The stitching is used as a framework on which the lacemaker works with a needle and single thread, building up the pattern with looped stitches. When the work is completed, the framework stitches are clipped and the lace is lifted off the pattern.
   Bobbin lace is made with a large number of threads, each fastened to a bobbin (spool). The pattern is drawn on paper, and the paper is fastened onto a cushion. Then pins are stuck into the cushion to keep the threads in position while the lace is being made. The lace is made with a pair of bobbins in each hand. These are moved from side to side to twist or interlace the threads. As the work progresses, the pins are moved farther along.
   Chantilly lace is a bobbin lace that has vine or spray patterns on a mesh ground; it is often used on evening dresses and bridal veils. Cluny lace is a fairly coarse bobbin lace; it is often used to trim chil-dren’s dresses and household linens.

Source: Lots More Tell Me Why by Arkady Leokum 

In English and Spanish: Talking about people who have gained weight.

Corpulent; a corpulent gentleman.

Source: Cambridge Word Selector,